Clichéd
by Nature9000
Summary: When Arc begins to avoid Ciara, she tries to discover what is bothering him, hurt when she realizes that it may be her after all


Clichéd

Disclaimer: I own nothing

A/N: And here is my first oneshot for this fandom. I hope you enjoy it.

-AND SO IT BEGINS-

Arc walked into the squad room, his sword in his right hand and a rag in the other. Warwick was seated in a recliner beside the sofa, holding the _Astorian Times_ magazine in his hand. "Hey Warwick." Arc took a seat on the couch and laid his sword across his legs.

"Hey man." Warwick didn't bother to look up from the magazine when acknowledging Arc. He thought it was amusing to see the man so engrossed in something which he would have thought to be the last thing the man would read. "Polishing your sword?"

"Yeah. I need to sharpen it too, Ciara says it's looking a bit worn." Warwick answered with a soft chuckle and Arc looked sideways at him. "What's so funny?"

"You and Ciara. You two are like always together, man."

"So?" He shrugged. "No more or less than you and Prudence." This made Warwick look up from the magazine for once, so he couldn't help the triumphant smirk that flashed upon his face. "Just saying, you two are always together, planning something."

"Yeah, but you guys are together more. And the way you look at one another? It's like you got some sort of special bond or something."

"No we don't."

Warwick shot him a skeptical look, furrowing his brow. "No? You know I could just use that truth spell on you, right?"

Arc rolled his eyes and started to grab the bottle of polish from the coffee table. "You wouldn't do that." Deciding to switch the subject, he jokingly pointed at the magazine. "So what's with that? I've never pegged you as a user of the glossy pages."

"I'm not, but there was an article about Princess Jasmine in here I wanted to read." Arc chuckled softly and returned his focus to the sword. Warwick had a small time crush on the Princess, but knew nothing was ever going to happen. Still, the man liked to play around with it. "Think she'd ever notice me, man?"

"No more, no less than she would notice me." Even if there were a remote possibility of it, Ciara was that very person and Warwick had no interest in her. Though Arc had to admit, he did find her attractive, but didn't think much of it; the reason being he didn't particularly like the whole knight to princess thing. "Besides, it's a bit cliché, don't you think?"

"What is?"

"The whole princess falling for a knight thing."

Warwick folded the magazine shut and squinted at Arc, the corner of his mouth pulled back into his cheek. "I think the cliché is more prince and princess, if you keep up with all those fantasy type tales."

"No, the cliché is princess and knight-the reality is princess and prince." Unfortunately, it was more than likely that Ciara would be arranged to marry a prince in order to unite some other kingdom with Astoria. That was the tradition of all royalty. "Royals arrange marriage not by love, but by either unification, treaties to end wars, and so on." He closed his eyes and began wiping the rag down his sword. "Princess Jasmine will most likely be married to a Prince-probably some relation to Ryker in order to end this long war."

"Think that's what she wants, man?"

Arc raised the sword upright, peering at it in the light's reflection. With a sigh, he brought it down. "It doesn't matter what she wants. In the end, royal marriage is about unity. If you were wanting to get married to Princess Jasmine, you would have to be a lot wealthier and a lot nobler."

"I'm noble, just as noble as you."

He laughed. "I'm not talking about actions and behavior, Warwick." Warwick dropped his head with a sigh.

"I know." Hell, Arc was in a similar boat. If Ciara were just Ciara, he'd probably look into his attraction towards her and see if there was anything there; but because she was a Princess, he didn't let it go anywhere. "Anyway, I'm not serious about my crush on the Princess, it's nothing more than a celebrity crush type thing." Arc smiled at him, giving a quick nod. "What about you and Ciara, man? Spill it, I know there's got to be something more."

"There's really not." He didn't want to talk about it, because to talk about something made it real. If it were real, then he couldn't deal with that. "She's somebody that I respect very much. We have some similar interests, and have become friends. That's about it."

"Dude, I know when you're lying." Warwick leaned forward, his brow furrowing. "I'm your best friend. Tell me before I accuse you of liking Sage." Arc tried to laugh, but started coughing at the suggestion. "Man we never talk girls. You're better looking than I am, so you've _got_ to have some prospects."

"Oh I do, I just keep them to myself typically."

"Well spill them, man." Warwick pushed his shoulder with a laugh. Annoyed, Arc leaned back and rolled his eyes.

"Fine. I do have a crush on a girl here at school."

Warwick pumped his fist in the air. "I knew it!" The boy leaned in, his eyes going wild. "Who is it? Ciara? Buttercup? It can't be Sage; but _please_ don't say Prudence." Raising an eyebrow at the final suggestion, he shook his head.

"God no, Warwick. Prudence is nice and all, but she terrifies me." He said that to relieve some of his friend's 'nervousness', as he could easily tell Warwick was into her himself. He needed his best friend to know she wasn't a blip on his radar. At the same time, he felt a tinge of desire to keep Ciara off Warwick's. "Ciara."

Her name rolled off his tongue with an air of nonchalance. It was as if he didn't realize he was admitting to it. Warwick froze, his eyes growing wider than even his smile could reach.

Almost immediately, Arc began to cringe. "I knew it! I knew it!" Warwick jumped up, clapping his hands. "I didn't even have to use the truth magic, either! My best friend has a thing for Ciara!"

"Dude, no so loud!" He reached over, grabbing Warwick's tunic and yanking him back down. "God." Warwick cleared his throat and crossed his legs, his voice slowly returning to a more calm state.

"So, why haven't you done anything about this?"

"Because. Nothing is going to happen there. End of story." Usually he wasn't so serious, but when it came to this, seriousness was almost essential. "I'm more concerned with other things right now, and I don't have to tell you how certain I am she's more interested in other prospects."

"You don't know that. You never know until you try." Warwick leaned forward, putting his hand on Arc's cleaning rag and sword. Arc started to growl, his eyes growing narrower. "Dude, she might like you back; and just think of how nice it would be to be able to go on a date with someone and relax without worrying about the school or questing."

He softened up a bit, thinking about Ciara as they sat in one of their favorite taverns, the room lit with candlelight. With her ring, they could enjoy the freedom without having anyone see the Princess out on a date with some guy that wasn't royalty.

Immediately he tossed aside the image in his head and rose up from the couch, his heart now pounding as his mind tried to go back to the image. This was what he was afraid of, and now it couldn't be avoided. "Can we talk about something else, man?"

"Well sure…you think Princess Jasmine is the damsel type?" Arc pulled back the corner of his lip and chuckled. "I bet she'd notice me if I got to rescue her."

"Why don't you ask Ciara that? I'll bet Princess Jasmine would kick your ass for even suggesting that." Warwick scratched the back of his head, looking down in defeat. "Did you forget her sister's a fighter, and her father comes from a line of warriors? My initial thought is that she's just as strong."

"I suppose." With a shrug, Warwick grabbed the magazine and opened it back up. "Oh well. Not worried about it."

Later that week, Ciara was finishing up dinner with Prudence. There wasn't anything eventful going on during the week, though she did pick up on something odd with Arc. He'd made less appearances than he usually had.

"Have you noticed anything different about Arc, lately?" She walked out of the café with Prudence, slowly scratching at her hair. Prudence shook her head a bit and started to tap her chin.

"Honestly, not much. He hasn't been his usual funny self, far as I can tell." She'd noticed that too, and thought it was strange of him. They usually trained in the evening, just outside the campus grounds; but they hadn't been able to all week long.

"I think I'll ask him if he wants to spar, we haven't done any of that in a while." She could feel something was wrong, and usually he trusted his problems to her and vice versa. She always felt like she could talk to him, and in turn she thought he felt the same about her. "It actually hurts a little that he's not telling me what's wrong, you know."

"So tell him. When has anything ever stopped you from speaking your mind?" she started to chuckle and gave a swift nod.

As they walked past some people, she spotted Arc across the crowd. He was sitting on a raised wall, reading a book. Her heart lifted up and she started to approach him with a smile. "Hey Arc!" His body tensed and he slowly looked up from his book.

"Ciara." He shut the book and carefully hopped off the wall. "How's it going?"

"Pretty good. Just finished dinner with Prudence." Prudence walked up behind her, waving at Arc.

"How was the meal?"

"Pretty good, we had a couple burgers. She had a barbecue one and I had this hot and spicy burger." He loved talking about food, and always seemed to be interested in what she would eat, if it was something unique.

"Oh, that's cool." His tone was lacking energy and he wouldn't connect with her gaze. Concerned, her smile faded and she tilted her head a bit.

"Arc, what's the matter? You haven't said much of a word to me all week. Is everything okay? Are you upset with me?"

"What? No." His response was rapid and defensive, then grew calmer. "No, I'm not upset with you. I just…have a lot on my mind right now."

"You know you can talk to me."

Arc started to nod, then looked past them. "I see Warwick. Just remembered, I forgot to give him something I borrowed from him." Ciara moved her hands to her hips and watched as he brushed past her and made his way to Warwick.

Prudence cringed and raised her fingertips to her forehead. "Ouch. That was painful." Try as she might, Ciara couldn't take offense. If anything, Arc's actions hurt her. She was angry that he'd treat her this way, and still upset that he seemed unwilling to talk to her.

"Fine, I'll give him a day or so to cool off. Whatever's going on, he'll get over it."

The next two days were torture, she couldn't get Arc out of her mind. Constantly she tried to figure out if his problem was her, or something else. She hoped the next time she saw him, he'd be feeling better or at least more talkative.

She even fantasized about using Princess Jasmine to order a decree that he talk to her; but such a notion was silly for a number of reasons, including the fact that he was already well aware that she and Jasmine were one and the same.

All through Sir Gareth's lecture, Arc barely even looked at her. Now she was afraid his problem _was_ her. She didn't miss how he stood either, positioning himself between Warwick and Prudence despite usually moving beside her.

Last she checked, she wasn't sick nor had they fought over anything. If she did or said something that upset him, she needed to know.

After their instructor's lecture, she tried to stop Arc by moving in front of his path. "Arc, what's going on with you? Are you mad at me?" He grunted and shook his head.

"No I'm not, but I'm meeting up with Warwick to practice some moves against magic."

"What?" He started walking and she turned around, swinging her arms outwards. "But that's our thing! Training together after school…" Her heart sank and she crossed her arms. Feeling a presence next to her, she turned to see Sage in mid grin.

"Wow, what did you do to piss him off?" Sage asked. Ciara sneered at the woman.

"Nothing." Sage laughed and Ciara dropped her head, lowering her voice. "I hope." She cleared her throat and raised her head high. "It's something else that's bothering him."

"Really? Cause if you ask me, it sorta looks like he's avoiding you."

"No shit." She crossed her arms and looked away as Sage walked off.

The next day things were still the same, but this time she wasn't going to confront Arc. She knew a way to get better information.

Bursting into the squad room, she found Warwick, as expected, admiring the portrait on the wall. "Warwick." The man turned, his eyebrows rising. "Arc's not here?"

"No. If you want, I could go find him."

"That's alright. I wanted to talk to you about something." Warwick nodded a bit as Ciara approached him. She maintained a non-aggressive stance because she didn't want to intimidate him; but her expression was stern so as to let him know she was serious. "What's been going on with him lately?" She stopped in front of him and crossed her arms, glaring down her nose at him. "I feel like he's been avoiding me all week, and I know you can't have missed that, because everybody, even Sage, has noticed."

Warwick's shoulders sank and he let out a sigh. "Yeah, I noticed." Her heart sank more, and her nerves kept her from responding. "I think he started after we were talking about stuff last week."

"What were you talking about?"

"Princess Jasmine." Warwick chuckled and Ciara raised an eyebrow. "You know how I have that little celebrity crush on her."

"Yeah, nothing's ever going to come of that."

"Right. Well, Arc was telling me how it was a cliché, a knight and a princess getting together." She froze, every muscle in her body started to tense. She knew Arc wouldn't tell anyone the secret, and Warwick would have said something if he found out; so what did this conversation have to do with her? At the same time, just knowing that Arc felt like it was a cliché was telling.

"Why would he think it's a cliché?"

"Because it's a storybook, near-fairy tale romance. That Princesses and knights don't usually end up together in real life, because Princesses get married off to Princes in hopes of forming alliances, uniting kingdoms, or ending wars."

She hooked a finger over her lip, chewing on her nail. "That _is_ true to an extent. Still, what does that have to do with me?"

"Because we got to talking about you. We never talk girls and I wanted to know if he was interested in anyone. I had to push him, but he finally told me he was interested in someone, but didn't think it was ever going to happen."

A fluttering sensation was felt in her stomach and she started to lean forward, intrigued now. "Who was it?" Warwick avoided her eyes, blood rising to his face. His response, or lack thereof, was enough of an answer for her. "Where is he right now?"

"Probably out at the place you guys tend to train. I think he said he was going to test the edge of his sword on the trees out."

"Thanks."

As she hurried to Arc, she contemplated her own feelings. She never thought about it, but the attraction was there. She wondered if it was possible for them to be more than friends. Of course, the royalty part might make things difficult if things ever grew serious, but she certainly didn't want to turn away the opportunity if opportunity existed.

She had 'dates' since she was sixteen. Despite her father's protective and babying ways, the man wanted her to mix with potential suitors on the chance that she'd be marriageable in the future.

Those dates were typically boring because her father always selected people that never really matched her interest. If anyone matched her preferences at this time, Arc certainly fell into the category.

Once outside campus grounds, she saw Arc hacking away on a tree, his blade sinking in deep enough that he had to use more strength to yank it out. Seeing an opportunity, she grabbed the bow and an arrow from her quiver and drew it on the string.

Her eyes narrowed as she aimed the arrow for the tree, just a few inches above Arc's head. He was busy trying to pull his sword out of, perhaps, the deepest slice yet. Without hesitation, she released the string and watched as the arrow sank into the tree.

Arc cried out in alarm and immediately turned around, pulling his shield from his back. His eyes met hers and trembled with fear as she aimed another arrow at him. "Don't you dare move, Arc. We need to talk." He started to reach for the sword, chuckling nervously.

"I think we're fine. Been a while since we've sparred though…"

"Sparring would be nice." She smiled pleasantly, returning her bow to the quiver. She then yanked her shield off the strap on her back and pulled out her sword. Without hesitation, she charged forward, swinging her sword towards him. He threw up his shield, letting her sword connect and bounce off.

In retaliation, he swung his blade from the tree and towards her, she threw her arm out sideways, striking the sword away with a sweeping motion. The shield hit Arc's hand and he gripped his wrist with a hiss. Instinctively, she pressed forward, pushing him onto his back.

She straddled him with her feet and lowered the blade to his chest. He raised up his hands, showing his palms and yelling out. "Okay, okay, you win!" He chuckled nervously. He went down far too easily, since their spars usually went longer.

"You've been avoiding me, Arc. It hurts." He frowned and looked away. The second his eyes left her, she touched his chest with the tip of her sword, causing his gaze to dart back. "Stop it. I know why you've been avoiding me, you don't have to explain."

"You know?"

"Warwick told me." His jaw dropped and she sheathed her sword. Stepping over and off of him, she reached down. With a defeated sigh, he grabbed her hand and let her pull him off the ground.

"I can't believe he told you."

"What did you expect? You've been avoiding me, everyone's noticed, and frankly I'm hurt because I thought we were close."

"I-I'm sorry." He bowed his head a bit and dropped his shoulders. "I shouldn't have done that to you, I just didn't know how to react."

"You…You like me."

"Warwick wanted to talk about it; but I never wanted to. Talking about it makes it real."

"Why are you so afraid of looking like a cliché?" She crossed her arms and tilted her head a bit. "And for the record, it would not be a cliché. You're not even a knight yet." He chuckled once.

"Yeah, that is true."

"Not a nobleman, not a prince, not a knight. If you really want to look at storybook romances, the Princess dating the person that's none of those things is more the cliché and stereotype." He raised an eyebrow and she closed her eyes, thinking of all the romance novels out there that dealt with princesses. "Usually that person is the 'loveable and datable' type while the Prince, the Knight, the Noble are all the asshole that she doesn't want anything to do with."

"Are you trying to say that I'm already a cliché?"

"You couldn't avoid it even if you wanted to, Arc." She stopped for a minute, considering her thoughts. "And to be honest, if we were going to let that stop us from getting out there and being ourselves or enjoying our lives and the company of others; I'd be in a bad spot too."

"Why?"

"Because I _am_ that princess." He blinked twice, his expression growing flat. It wasn't hard to see, she wasn't interested in royalty. "I love being Ciara, I hate being Jasmine. I love being out here, feeling the wind on my face and fighting through swamp, desert, and every harsh terrain out there. I don't think all Princes are assholes or anything, but I'm not interested in that sort of thing."

"Yeah, but when the time comes-"

"And it hasn't yet." Ciara looked him in the eyes and chuckled. "We're eighteen, Arc. My sister's nearly twenty-two, and Dad hasn't even tried to arrange her marriage. She's got another three years, because he prefers to wait until we're at least twenty-five for that sort of thing."

"Wow, that's saying something…"

She was aware her father's policy was different than most kings. Usually sixteen and eighteen were the ages of arranged marriage; and twenty was often the latest. "Well, Dad's different. Mostly, he's more afraid to accept his kids are growing up."

"Makes sense."

"But by that time, Arc, if everything goes according to plan…you would be a full-fledged Knight anyway and both my sister and I have convinced our father to at least give us a say of some kind in who he tries to arrange us to marry."

"Cool."

"In the meantime…" She took his hand and gave it a slight squeeze. His eyes dropped to their hands and his cheeks started to turn red. "In the meantime, I _am_ free to date whoever I please, Arc."

"What are you saying?"

"I'm saying, I don't give a shit about clichés and I would like to go on a date with you." She didn't play around with words, and Arc knew that. He chuckled in reply and flashed a smile her way.

"Blunt and direct, I always liked that about you."

"Yeah, and, I never believed in the guy having to ask the girl out." She paused, her heart beating heavier in her chest. Now that things were in the open, she felt a tinge of nervousness settling in. Her eyes drifted back to his and a faint smile graced her. "So, what do you say? Would you be okay with going on a date with me? Whatever happens in the future, I'm sure we could figure it out…I would like to see if there's something there, maybe you feel the same?"

"Yeah." He smiled back. "Yeah, I do." He took a deep breath and looked towards the school. "Want to tell the others?"

"Eh, maybe keep it to ourselves for now."

"Another secret?"

"Yeah, another one."

He laughed and rolled his eyes. "Okay, great. Let's let this one out of the bag at some point…if it becomes something more."

"If so." She leaned her head to the right. "Maybe you want to get some steaks tomorrow?"

"I would, I know a great steakhouse. I'll buy."

"Oh? I do have money; but I don't mind…"

"Sure." He picked up his sword and they started for the campus. "You know, you never told me about that hot and spicy burger you had the other day. What was in it?"

* * *

Already the plot bunnies come in droves. Hm. How did you like this? Do tell. I hope others will start posting, I'd love to see some other stories in this new fandom.


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